A Benedictine nunnery known as Amesbury Abbey was founded by Ælfthryth (wife of Edgar) in about the year 979 on a site near the River Avon.

[1][2] In 1720 it was bought by Lord Carleton,[3] and was included in Colen Campbell's 1725 Vitruvius Britannicus, a collection of engravings of the great houses of the time.

[4] Harrison's 1786 Picturesque Views of the Principal Seats of the Nobility and Gentry[5] shows single-bay wings added by the Duke of Queensberry, perhaps designed by Henry Flitcroft.

John Belcher criticised the outcome in his 1901 book, particularly the use of rustication on both lower floors, the lack of connection between the portico and the rest of the building, and the use of single sheets of glass in the windows.

[7] From June 1940, the house was used by Major General Henry Wynter as the administrative headquarters of the Second Australian Imperial Force, which was at first trained to defend Southern England against an expected German invasion.

[7] Three features are themselves Grade II* listed: the ornamental bridge (1775)[12] and Chinese temple (1772),[13] both by Sir William Chambers; and Guy's Cave, a late-18th-century grotto set under the east side of the hill known as Vespasian's Camp.

[17] After 1735, the Duke of Queensberry acquired land west of the river which included the Iron Age hillfort called Vespasian's Camp.

[10] By the early 19th century a new southern entrance to the park had been created, next to the parish church, using gate pillars each with a pair of Tuscan columns below a triangular pediment.